Former Socceroos coach Rale Rasic believes that, on a marketing level, the David Beckham experience is so powerful the superstar's Sydney visit will create a new wave of young players across Australia - some of whom will emerge as stars on the professional scene a decade from now.
"Whoever made this happen should be congratulated, because it is going to have a tremendous effect on the game in Australia for many years to come," Rasic, who took Australia to the 1974 World Cup finals, said yesterday. "The effect has already begun, because people have been talking about the Beckham visit for months. I don't think you can underestimate the power, in a marketing sense, of this one man. The people aren't coming to see LA Galaxy or Sydney FC - they're coming to see him, and he has sold out an 80,000-capacity stadium at a time when his best days as a player are behind him.
"They have been many better players than Beckham, but no one in football has reached the status, in marketing terms, that he has. He's alongside Roger Federer and Tiger Woods as one of the most marketable sporting identities in the world, and he deserves everything he has got out of the game because he has always been good for the game.
"The effect we're going to see in Australia, from him being here, is that all these seven-, eight-, nine- and 10-year-olds are going to see him in the flesh or on TV, visiting their country and playing, and they're going to realise first-hand just how big a phenomenon he is not just in football, but sport.
"..he (Beckham) deserves everything he has got out of the game because he has always been good for the game.".. I second that opinion wholeheartedly!
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